


Just Gotten Taller

by Project0506



Series: Soft Wars [16]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Brothers, Gen, Harm to Animals, Humor, brothers being brothers, gen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:34:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23651674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/pseuds/Project0506
Summary: "Boys don't everreallygrow up; they just get taller."Cody and Rex investigate rumors that their line came from Concord Dawn.  They find a hostile world, filled with things willing to kill them with very little provocation.For a couple of unsupervised Mandalorian brothers?  It's thebestvacation.(Animals were definitely, enthusiastically and irreparably harmed.  To be fair, they started it.)
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex
Series: Soft Wars [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683775
Comments: 45
Kudos: 594





	Just Gotten Taller

**Author's Note:**

> This was one of the ones that ended up being completely different from the original, and most of it didn't survive the post-sleep-on-it edit. I really just wanted to see a relaxed Rex and Cody having the kind of brotherly bonding time we've only seen in Cadet-era times til now. This takes place fairly early on in the rough timeline that's hammering itself out, probably somewhere around Readiness Assessment. One day I'm going to have to reorder all of these...
> 
> Enjoy!

“Torrent has been a terrible influence on you,” Cody mourns. There’s a shuffle to his left, deep in the underbrush. Cody turns, sights, fires twice, doesn’t bother to watch the mottled green, four-eyed, six legged felinoid fall. He already knows it will. “You used to be so _responsible_.”

“First off,” Rex says. He grabs Cody’s arm and yanks him out of the way of one of the small hey-Cody-we’re-definitely-calling-those-jumpscares, the things that look like a massive rabbit with fangs and the tendency to alert everyone right before it attacks. Cody goes with the motion, drops to one knee. Rex fires once above Cody’s head and its battle scream cuts off. “That is actual rancor shit and you know it. And second.”

There’s a gap in the creatures’ attack. Without speaking Cody barrels through. Rex is, as always, right behind him.

“All I did,” Rex huffs and dodges another jumpscare. Cody gets the shot. “Was ask if they’d taste better roasted or _shit_.” They jump in opposite directions. Cody rolls, shoulder leading, and comes up on one knee. This time the felinoid, treestalkers as Rex has dubbed these, is between them and Cody doesn’t shoot for fear of hitting Rex in the scuffle. The thing leaps for Cody. Halfway through its arch it is hauled off target with a howl. Cody palms a knife and rams it through the thing’s upper right eye socket. “ _Fried_ ,” Rex says with vindictive glee.

Cody wheezes a laugh, tries to catch his breath while Rex unwinds his grapple from the thing’s legs.

“You’re having _fun_ ,” he accuses without heat.

“Hey Cody,” Rex shoots back without missing a beat. “I think you got something. Right there.” He points to the corner of his own smile. “Looks like a spot of hypocrisy.”

Cody’s grin is wide and likely just as wild as the one on Rex’s face. He pushes to his feet and Rex returns his grapple to his belt. “Think they’ve run off?”

Somewhere behind them, a jumpscare screams. Rex gives him the most dry look he can muster. It’s really damn dry. Cody tips his head in acknowledgment; he’s earned that.

“Odds of us clearing the tree line before they catch up?”

“Pretty karking terrible,” Rex declares without needing to think about it. “Try anyway?”

“Try anyway,” Cody agrees.

They break east.

The pounding of their boots in sync, the rustle of fiber clothing instead of plastoid armor, the measured breathing not filtered through a bucket, it all rolls up into a sudden sense memory, familiar and nostalgic. They used to run like this often back on Kamino, Cody remembers, the many, many times Rex mouthed off to someone and earned himself laps. As he got older he got better at avoiding that, but also better at convincing Cody to run with him when he couldn’t.

Fewer killer cats and murder bunnies though.

Rex laughs as if hearing the thought or just through sheer exhilaration. The joy is contagious.

They can just about see the light breaking through the line when the first of the treestalkers catch up with them. There’s a _karking jumpscare on it’s back_.

“Symbiotic hunting species?” Rex wonders. Cody wishes he could spare the second to throw a rock at him.

“Just _shoot_ ,” he yells. ‘Nerd’, he thinks fondly.

“Oya1!” Rex agrees. The jumpscare leaps for his head.

They get the pair down right as what’s left of the pack closes in. Three ‘stalkers. Enough ‘scares that Cody loses track. The brothers wade in cheerfully. “If this is where you’re trying to get us to live, ‘alor2,” Rex calls at some point. “It’s a terrible plan and I fully support you.”

At some other point, Cody drops his blaster. If Obi-Wan ever finds out Cody will claim it was entirely on purpose. Through the flurry of fangs and fur he didn’t want to risk Rex. He will stick to that story til the day he dies. Fortunately, like most species the ‘stalkers are rather vulnerable to being punched in any one of their eyes then knifed in whatever vulnerable bits they store in their upper chest cavity. Cody gets two down. Rex gets the other and goes to picking off the ‘scares. He’s found Cody’s blaster and dual-wields with manic enthusiasm.

The ‘scares? Also vulnerable to fists to the eye socket. Cody can admit to himself it feels _great_.

“Okay,” he says when the forest is finally quiet and movement has stopped. He eyes the hulking masses of the ‘stalkers. The smallest two would come have come up to his waist. The larger was probably of a height with his collar and easily eight feet long. And Cody _punched it in the face._ “Okay I’m kind of incredible,” he muses.

Adrenaline is a _hell_ of a drug.

“You are an apex predator who walks like a man,” agrees Rex, the shit. “And the galaxy is your prey. Hold this.” Instead of his blaster like he expects, Cody finds himself with an armful of eighteen pounds of jumpscare, intact except for the neat mark of the single headshot that killed it. Cody’s blaster finds a home tucked into the belt of Rex’s spacers’ trousers.

He’d deserve it if he blasted off a buttock, Cody thinks, annoyed.

“We’re not taking the jumpscares,” he says sternly. He's already consented to calling the beasts _jumpscares_ and _treestalkers_ ; there has to be a line. Rex ignores him, bundles up another three in the same intact condition. One more finds it’s way to Cody and he takes the opportunity to liberate his blaster from Rex’s pants.

“The old Mereel farmstead is still a solid ten kliks out, east by southeast,” Rex says in his ‘I’m being reasonable, you should listen to me’ voice. Cody knows that voice. Cody _taught_ him that voice, specifically to deflect from when one is talking osik3 directly from the shebs4. “It’ll be nearly dark by the time we get there. And if its been abandoned for as long as we think, any generators would be long dead. We won’t find anything tonight, might as well take the time to …” Rex wriggles a ‘scare in Cody’s direction by it’s long ears. “Sample the local cuisine. Don’t know about you, vod5, but I for one am only looking forward to dinner if its not ration bars.”

“We’re not taking the jumpscares,” Cody repeats. They’re here to look for anything they can find of Fett claim to this world, and to try to keep a low profile while they do. They are not here to practice field prep techniques on the local fauna. “Rex. We’re _not_ taking the jumpscares!”

They take the jumpscares. They’re really damn good roasted.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Generic expression of enthusiasm. Lit. 'Let's Hunt!' Back  
> 2\. Head, Chief. In context, Clan Head. Back  
> 3\. Shit. Back  
> 4\. Ass. Back  
> 5\. Brother. Back  
> 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Getting to Know You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23860777) by [Chess_Blackfyre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chess_Blackfyre/pseuds/Chess_Blackfyre)




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